TRASH OR TREASURE
ZACHARY R. FJESTAD
Nanyo) bass from the eighties that is
pretty rare. There’s not much out there
on this model, but it is one of my favorites and it plays like buttah! What can you
tell me about it?
Meisel Music went out of business in
August 2008.
Bass Collection SB401
Kenn Pierog,
Maple Shade, NJ
Hi Kenn,
How many bass players does it take to
change a light bulb? I’m not sure how the
ending of that goes (or maybe I purposely
forgot), but it seems bass players don’t get
the respect that guitarists do! Thanks for
the question about the bass—it is refreshing to research something off the beaten
path. Bass Collection is a trademark,
not a company, so there is essentially no
information straight from the factory. Your
bass, however, appears to be an SB401
rather than an SB501. Since we’ve been
researching guitars and basses since the
early 1990s, we have an enormous amount
of archives, including some catalogs and
price lists for Bass Collection. Here is what
I found:
As I said before, Bass Collection offered
a variety of configurations that were classified by different series. Their entry-level
models were the 300 Series, and their top-of-the-line models were the 600 Series.
Mid-grade models rounded out the line-up
with the 400 and 500 Series, and each
series had more features and better quality
components the higher the number was.
All models started with the prefix “SB” and
were followed by three digits. “01” indi-
because of the attractive combination
of features with an affordable price. The
SB401 features a solid basswood body,
hard rock bolt-on maple neck, 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, Bass Collection’s trademark narrow headstock shape, two-per-side
Gotoh tuners, adjustable bridge, active
SGC pickups (one P-style and one J-style),
four knobs (Volume, Pickup Balance, Treble
Boost/Cut, Bass Boost/Cut), black hardware, and 34” scale. It was available in
Navy Blue, Pearl White, Silver, or Black finish like yours.
“Bass Collection” was a line of basses
distributed in the US by Meisel Music in
Springfield, NJ. These basses were built by
the Japanese company, SGC Nanyo. Their
1990 catalog advertised, “A collection of
basses for everyone, from the discriminating professional to the serious student,”
indicating that they offered several configurations of basses. Bass Collection thrived
in the mid-1980s and early 1990s when
mid-level price points still succeeded,
but by the mid-1990s, cheaper Korean
and Chinese imports were beginning to
dominate the industry, and Bass Collection
could no longer survive. The last catalog I
have for Bass Collection is from 1994, and
it appears that they stopped producing/
importing shortly thereafter. Retailer Sam
Ash of New York, NY bought the remaining inventory from Meisel Music and sold
it through their retail stores. Unfortunately,
The SB401 last retailed for $995 and sold
new for around $700 (the “new” price is
what most retailers would sell it for with
all standard discounting and minimum
advertised pricing policies that may have
applied). Today, the SB401 is worth about
the same, between $650 and $700, which
is a nice return for a Japanese instrument,
considering most imports from the 1990s
aren’t worth half of their original retail price
today. Based on the online reviews I’ve read
(along with your sentiment) these basses
indeed play like “buttah!” Fewer instruments are coming from Japan today and on
the food chain of instrument production,
Japan is often referred to as number two
behind the US/Canada. I’d certainly consider this a treasure, considering how well
it plays and how high the resale value has
held. Keep up the bass playing—regardless
of what the guitarist tells you, you’re still an
important part of the band!
cated a fretted fingerboard, “02” indicated
a fretless fingerboard, and “05” indicated
five-string configuration. A few left-handed
models were offered as well, and in 1991,
they introduced the Bass Collection II,
which featured a different body shape and
different electronics. According to the 1993
price list, retail prices ranged between
$659 for the SB301 to $1650 for the SB615.
Bass Collection II models ranged in price
between $1199 and $1629. It is unknown
how many models were produced or
imported into the US.
Your bass, the SB401, was one of Bass
Collection’s most popular models, mainly
Zachary R. Fjestad
Zachary is the author of the Blue Book of Acoustic
Guitars, Blue Book of Electric Guitars, and the Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
Questions can be submitted to:
Blue Book Publications
Attn: Guitar Trash or Treasure
8009 34th Ave. S. Ste #175
Minneapolis, MN 55425
800-877-4867
bluebookinc.com
guitars@bluebookinc.com
